Fishing Muddy water and wood cover?

[Nick982]

Hey, im going to a local lake tomorrow (BOAT FISHING) that is really muddy compared to other lakes, and the only bass i have caught out of it were on live bait. Anyways, about half of the lake is accessible to the public, but the other half, is only by boat.

Cover consists of floating logs, sumberged trees, stumps,  that extend about 20 to 30 yards out from the bank, all the way around the side available by boat.

Do you guys think i will have a better chance at fishing the side of the lake only accesible by boat, since there isnt that much fishing pressure. The lake is fished regularly, but not so much by boat.

and..

What would you suggest fishing in really muddy water, with only wood cover, and how would do you guys fish wood cover?

Also, I dont have a fish finder if that will help your reply.

Thank You!

Nick

[Gatorbassman]

Muddy water and wood cover?

Muddy Man might have a problem with someone playing with "sticks" in his bathtub. ;D

I like to use a c-rigged worm with a short leader and a couple of glass beads.

[George Welcome]

The answer to your questions will vary based on location. The muddy water lakes of the Catawba river in North Carolina for example in no way compare with the muddy waters of the Connecticut river. However, that being said, a good all around muddy water bait is spinner bait, and depending on time of year wood cover can be a major area to spend considerable time.

[Cephkiller]

I like to use jigs, big worms, Colorado blade spinnerbaits and square bill cranks.

[Catt]

I almost never use a bait with rattles but muddy water is one condition when I'll use one & this is my weapon of choice.

Texas rigged craw worm (mud bug), brass bullet weight, & a glass bead  

[bassholebuster14]

i like fat cranks with a wide woble or big colerodo spinerbaits, but you cant realy go wrong with senkos

[bassholebuster14]

i like fat cranks with a wide woble or big colerodo spinerbaits, but you cant realy go wrong with senkos

[GrandSlamBasser87]

I wouls def. back up the crankbaits and colorado spinnerbaits! Be sure to choose a crakbait that will run at a depth that will allow you to bounce it off the cover here and there to trigger the reaction strike, same goes for the spinnerbait, let it bounce off and flutter for a second then pick the retreive back up.  Had good success on a stained-muddy lake around wood with a Bandit fire-tiger crankbait and also a Terminator Colorado blade spinnerbait with gold blades with most strikes coming after the bait contacted the structure which would trigger the reaction strike from bass as they think it is injured. Good luck!

[GrandSlamBasser87]

ALSO....you may find yourself catching more fish off one piece of cover by working the outskirts first, starting maybe out to 10' away, and working your way in from there. By doing this, you can catch fish on the outskirts of the cover which will not spook the many fish that may be closer or in the cover. Be mindful of line abrasion when dealing with wood as well.

[Nick982]

so i fished senkos today, i stuck with them, and it was the 7th time ive fished them, 7th time ive used senkos, and no fish whats wrong with me

[Cephkiller]

so i fished senkos today, i stuck with them, and it was the 7th time ive fished, 7th time ive used senkos, and no fish whats wrong with me

It's not that Senkos won't work in this situation, but they are not optimal.  What's wrong is that you asked for advice and got some really good tips and didn't follow them.  Try some of our suggestions and see what happens.

[Okee_Steve]

There is nothing wrong with you. It may be the the lake you fished. It maybe the the color of or/and the way the Sinko was rigged or fished.

What was the Ph, the water temp? Was there any vegetation at all?

The big question is; was anyone around you catching fish? If so what were they using?

There are just hundreds of reasons a person may not catch fish and without some basic information it's hard to help.

Like you were told by Cephkiller you got some great advice and didn't use any of it. next time try some of the things you were told and I bet your catching will improve greatly.

I would love to help but without some more info it would all be a guess, I should say an ill informed guess.

[senile1]

If you fish a Senko in muddy water the worm has to fall on top of their face for them to find it.  You received some good suggestions in the other posts.  Try those baits instead.  

[mattm]

Fish tend to hold tighter to cover in my experience with muddy water.  I have a lake in my hometown that I fish at least once a week.  I catch fish there on senkos but I only throw them when i'm throwing to a bank loaded with cover or shallow flooded grass.  Now that I think about it I also only throw it in places where I caught fish before.  Senkos are not going to displace a lot of water making it tough for the fish to find.  If I threw it at all in the lake you were describing it would probably be somewhere I had already caught fish and I would be casting it into those stumps(trying to hit them).  Everyones suggestions about cranks, rattles and spinnerbaits are very good suggestions try that.  If you are like me and hell bent on sticking to plastics go to a creature bait(beavers or brush hogs).  The additional appendages will displace more water making them easier to find.  Throw dark colors and start on the outside of the structure not to spook fish as one poster already said.  However once you make it to the cover really work it over.

[Nick982]

It's not that Senkos won't work in this situation, but they are not optimal.  What's wrong is that you asked for advice and got some really good tips and didn't follow them.  Try some of our suggestions and see what happens.

I never said senkos were the only bait that i fished, my questions was why they havent been working, i just didnt want to start a whole new thread. I did fish other baits like, spinners, shallow runnin cranks, and 7" inch texas rigged - bullet weighted worms. I understand why senkos would not be a good choice in this lake, but ive used them in waters clear - to - black and still havent had any luck. Ive rigged them texas weighted, texas weightless, wack, tried 2 different sizes, 4 different colors, deep to shallow. Slow to fast, and still no luck.

Just curious,

Nick

[Raul]

Imagine for a moment that you are completely blind or short sighted, in my case that 's no such big deal, I don 't need to imagine, I 'm so short sighted that I 'm legally blind, can 't see squat 10 ft away. If you can 't see squat then your eyes are not good OK, muddy water has the same effect, fish in muddy water can 't see squat so in order to get their everyday meal you have to depend upon your other senses to find food. These senses are:

1.- Hearing ( blind people have developed excellent hearing capabilities )

2.- Smell ( blind people have developed excellent of smell )

3.- Lateral line system, people don 't have lateral system but if you do some research on the lateral line system of fish you will know why fish can locate predators and prey with the lateral line.

4.- Sight .... man I can 't see squat but like hell I can see flash

So now you know which senses to attack in order to let the fish know your bait is there.

Can 't see but can hear ---> add sound to your baits, like rattles and/or beads

Can 't see but can smell ---> I 'm not a big fan of scents but scents added to your baits are a little extra

Can 't see but have lateral line system --->  VIBRATION is a key element when fishing poor visibilty water, the lateral line detects vibration and distorsion, not only it detects it but detects distance, speed and direction, add vibration to your lures and distort the water

Can 't see but can detect flash ---> add flash to your baits

What you need is in your T-box all you need is to select properly.

I would not fish a T-rigged senko, but I can fish a wacky rigged senko simply because a wacky rigged senko has a whole lotta more vibration than a T-rigged senko; same bait different rigging has a completely different approach.

What 's wrong with you ?

Nick use what God and 4 million years of evolution have given you, an animal with a pea sized brain simply can 't be more intelligent than you.

[Nick982]

Raul,

You must not have read my post when i said im just curious why gary yamamoto senkos havent worked for me at all, not JUST in muddy water. I clearly stated that I didnt want to start a new thread to add to the millions of other senko threads and that I KNEW senkos wouldn't be a good choice for this particular lake. You must have also missed my post concerning MY FISHING TRIP where I said I used

7" Texas Rigged, Bulleted, with one glass bead, Worms- Different colors, figured the bullet would stir up the dirt.

Shallow running Cranks - Stirs up dirt, rattles, has a lot of movement, bounced it off of cover

Spinner Baits - "Flashes" and small vibrations.

Senkos - Rigged T-Rig, and Wacky - Not posted, but very important, i also used "spike it"f or Wacky

Also not posted but very important, i use YUM Scent on all my baits.

Another note, aside from me pointing out to you that i'm not an idiot and that i do use what God has given me.

I think my problem might have been the depth the fish were at during that time. I really think i should invest in a good depth finder to see where they are located, but it seems many people do fine without it.

Thank you for everyones suggestions,

Nick

[Raul]

Dude I read your thread thoroughly, now if you feel like an idiot that 's your problem, I never said you were.

[RoLo]

I can hardly think of anything that would cause me to choose the more heavily fished water.

I use precious few metals and hard-plastics anymore, but whenever I'm faced with coffee-colored water,

two lures instinctively pop into my head, a "spinnerbait" and a "Rat-L-Trap". Nuff said.

Roger

[mudcatwilly]

I would throw a jig with a rattle, a timber tiger crank, a T-rig with brass and glass, or a spinner with a big colorado blade.  You want something that displaces a lot of water or something that makes a racket.  Some scent wouldn't hurt either.